Condemned house fixed; man, daughter OK

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Jerry Buchanan was sitting in his warm house Thursday afternoon. No longer is is furnace not working. No longer is the house he's rented for four years condemned. No longer do he and his daughter have to move.

Following a Target 8 investigation , Buchanan's landlords - the Australia-based Select Properties USA - hired a local company, Compass Property Management, to straighten out the mess made by the foreign owners.

Compass Property Management is beginning with homes like Buchanan's on Dunham SE that are about to be boarded up by the city. Eventually, they'll work their way through a total of 15 homes, some currently vacant.

But Buchanan, who saw the city post condemned notices on the house after his furnace broke and wasn't fixed, is happy now.

"Things seem to be working out," he told Target 8 investigators.  "They (Compass Property Management) came out and said they would work with me, help reimburse me for money I had to spend to make it while I was going through these changes. They repaired everything. Heat is working."

The Australians hired the group to evaluate the properties, but after the Target 8 story aired on Feb. 9 , the Australian-based owners sent the money to start the repairs.